Be responsible with free speech

We stand with the mental health advocates who are protesting the dehumanizing language featured in a Hollywood movie that opened here last week.

The demonstrators, wearing white T-shirts with the words 'No R word,' turned out in silent protest as 'Tropic Thunder' opened.

They are concerned that the movie includes frequent use of the word 'retard.'

The movie paints itself as satire. It pokes fun at all sorts of groups, including the Hollywood establishment itself. So why should people with mental retardation get a pass, director and co-star Ben Stiller seems to ask, particularly if the audience is going to get a laugh?

There is a big difference between the fun had by skewering media moguls or even pricking the affectations of political correctness, and the damage caused by advancing only-too-real discrimination.

People with mental disabilities and mental illness very often suffer more from social stigma than from anything else.

We do agree with Stiller, who has said, 'You know, if I want to protest something because it offends me that's my right as an American, and it's also any artist's right to say and do whatever they want to do.'

We hope he also understands that 'artists' such as himself have a social responsibility. And while they have the right to exercise free speech, there is no guarantee that movie producers must finance their work, that movie theaters must show it, or that the public must pay to be exposed to it.

The controversy may have the not-altogether- unintended consequence of boosting ticket sales.

Nevertheless, we hope it also may widen the dialogue about the impact of words and how we can more appropriately refer to people with mental retardation.

Put people first.